MAIN
Tuning
Previous Page | Next Page
Cap'n To clarify this, the 'bible' states that 'all exported Sprites were fitted with the Front bumper bar, overriders and number plate mounting as standard and was an option on all others.' Huh? Why wasn't it? Just because it left the factory without one, doesn't mean it couldn't be retro-fitted. The reason the Sprite's came with so little 'base' equipment and had so many optional accessories was to keep the price down. There was a whole host of optional extras that could be specified either from the 'factory', 'franchise dealership' or even BL Special Tuning or the Healey's own... MORE
Subject: Re: Bugeye Group..... Re: The Originality Wars...another take A very interesting spin on the subject. It seems to put it more into perspective for me. I am not restoring a Bugatti here. And I have no interest in restoring a 1959 tract house (that sold for $15,000 new) back to its original condition with galvanized water pipes and a floor furnace. I like air conditioning, a modern kitchen, disk brakes, 5 speed, going faster etc. As well, I like the neighborhood, and the people who live around me, and the other people who drive LBC's and besides, they... MORE
OK Gingerino...here we go.... The amount of choke (in terms of manual cable/jet travel) that is required to... 1. get the engine to "fire" to begin with 2. allow it to continue running smoothly (decreasing amount) as it warms up to normal operating temperature. Fr'instance: On 40-45F+ mornings, no choke is really needed at all. A couple of turns of the motor with the starter button is all it takes. We let the oil pressure come up and fast idle it for a minute or so (1200-1500rpm) using our right foot, then drive it gently 'til it comes up... MORE
Ginger: (1st of all, Happy New Year!) Not that you need to hear this but..... it's "tune-up" time for your baby in addition to the M/C work. Seriously.... with appropriate choke, your stock Spridget should fire right up right down to less than 20 degrees with no problem at all....and run smoothly with appropriate choke from dead cold as well. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 28018... MORE
I put the new battery in the car, start it up. I have not started it since early Dec. It runs, but it is missing, and I have to play the accelerator to keep it going. Then, is just dies. It will turn over, but it will not start. I remove the distributor cap, and I am not getting any spark at the points. I went through all the steps in Bentley's "finding a fault in the low tension circuit" and everything checks out ok, but still, NO SPARK! There is even voltage across the points, this is crazy........... MORE
Brad, If you have 12 volts at the points, they WILL spark! Period! If they don't, check to see if they actually close enough to have the actual points really touch each other. If you have a volt meter, make sure that one side is actually grounded and the other side actually has 12 volts on it. I have seen it out of adjustment enough where the little cam does not let the points come closed enough to really touch with any pressure. Doesn't hurt to close points, take a little slip of 400 wet or dry sand paper... MORE
Happy New Year to all! I promised myself I'd get into Midget gear right after the first. My dual Spitfire(Gasp!) carbs and manifold are in hand but the carbs are dirty! Does anyone on the list have a good method to remove years of grime, gunk etc. so the new setup can look good? I've been told to soak 'em in carb cleaner but I've never been that impressed with the results. Would also be interested to know if any cutting is involved when installing a Spitfire 1300 carb/manifold setup in a RB Midget. Thanks in advance. The days... MORE
Hi, Guy and David, There are varying degrees of symmetry and our engines are not symmetrical vertically. I also no mathematician, but I am an engineer! The simplest way I can describe it is to say that:- when the crank is at 90 degrees from TDC, the pistons are not half way down the bore! At this point in a 1275 motor the piston is at 57% of its stroke. Hence when the crank is in this position all 4 pistons are at 57% stroke. Compare this when the crank is at TDC or BDC, you will have 0%... MORE
Hi Geri, I am no mathematician, so I am quite happy to accept what you say, and I am not arguing with you... but logic makes it hard to believe! If all 4 pistons are identical, and the throw on each crank journal the same, then I cannot see why the volume displaced by one going down should be any different from the displacement of the adjacent one going up. Neither can I see why the length of con rod should make any difference either. However I can well imagine that there are complex effects of the inertia of... MORE
Mr Zappa, You should have a Zenith cd150 carb installed on your car if it is stll as originally equipped. These carbs have been trouble since the day they were installed new and only get worse as time goes on. As for the fuel leak. Look real close at the rubber hose where it attatchs to the carb body. Small hairline cracks frequently are found causing fuel to weep. Have someone crank it over and you watch right here for where the leak appears. Another possibilty is the auto choke (if installed) can be a pain in the a$$.... MORE
oh right, I get you. As you said yourself in another post, it's down to a combination of the total package and depends how keen Alan is to get that last few horsepower. The standard manifold will work, but the higher the potential HP output of the engine, the greater will be the proportional loss. David "David Jacobs" 27947... MORE
David I mean in terms of the 'state of tune' of the engine. Did the MG Metro not have a different inlet manifold, cylinder head, bigger inlet and exhaust valves and carbs etc ? Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 27945... MORE
Alan A good old 'how long is a piece of string question' ! I think you need to look upon this as an upgrade 'component' within a group of upgrades who's sum will exceed that of its individual components. ie it depends a lot on what else you're doing to the engine and what it is that you want out of it - more power? better economy etc. Used in isolation you'll only be getting about 4 or 5 extra hp at rev ranges above 3.5, 4k. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 27941... MORE
Without having the benefit of Vizards book along side of me. Cap'n Bob. Are tubular LCB manifolds worth the presumed hassle of fitting. I know they were a real B*st*rd to fit into a mini , apart from the noise I didn't really notice humungous amounts of increased performance. Given exhaust gas velocity exiting from a ported head (now that desription could apply to some listers LOL) is a LCB worth fitting along with a stainless straight through pipe with a single silencer? (Mufflers are what women use to keep their dannies and neck warm !) Or is the... MORE
Hi, Alan... With respect to correctly sized LCB.... for the stock and/or short cammed engine (with largest Mickey D's in one hand and Vizard's book in the other) in a word NO, not in and of itself with respect to the stock engine, or even as part of a free flow system, unless you are cruising the highways at 70+ most of the time. For a trifle more power... The short 3-1 is better for fuel economy below the rpms associated with tooling around town and driving applications wherein rpm's associated with the above paragraph aren't likely to be... MORE
David If its any help the the 1098 10CC engines used the same part number manifold as the early 12CE, 12DA1275 engines (12G420) up to GAN5 139772 from GAN5 139773 the part number changed to 12G1581, athough the manifolds look identical, the only main difference is the introduction of a flange on the manifold to the downpipe. So the answer to your question is yes it will fit on a 1098 with no change in performance. My 1971 1275, also had a tubular manifold fitted, and whilst it was a pretty tight fit, nothing was altered to make it... MORE
By now it should be obvious that I have a few days off and am spending them in the workshop, hence another quick question. Are 1098 and 1275 exhaust manifolds identical or is the 1275 version a little larger internally, and if the 1275 is a little larger internally would it fit on a 1098 and what effect would it have on performance? The reason I ask is that my project (65 Sprite ) has one of those performance enhancing three branch manifolds unfortunately the previous owner has hacked a lump out of one of the front chassis legs... MORE
Hi Robert. Actually, if you read my post you will see that we are in full agreement. We both state the source of the increased pressure as coming past the pistons, rather than the volume displaced by the pistons which is balanced out. And we both refer to the oil leak problem that ensues. Interesting stuff about filling a 2-stroke crankcase. This was effectively the best way of increasing the compression ratios on a 2 stroke. I never went as far as you with using bondo, but I do remember there were a number of firms selling crank-case fillers... MORE
You are correct, in a perfect world, the pressure would balance out to be zero, but a little pressure sneaks past the rings, the valve guides, etc and any positive pressure pushes oil out the rear seal. Interesting side tangent when talking about two cycle engines. When I was a 16 year old kid, I worked for a marine place and we built racing Johnson outboard motors. Roy Rogers,( the great cowboy movie star) had us build his engines. Twin Johnson 35's for off shore racing. My boss and I drilled the crankcase full of holes and inserted one... MORE
Fit a catch tank & run all the breathers into there, Why would you want oil fumes to be sent back to carbs anyway. As it lowers your fuels octane rating ???? Beckers "beckers" 27888... MORE
BECKERS states (in part).. "....it lowers fuel octane anyway" Yeah, this is true and a tough one to call (except in a high compression motor or when higher octanes are available at reasonable cost) against crankcase evacuation of vapors/pressures with respect to oil being forced passed seals or out the rear scroll "seal". But it's basically why I run "vented" instead of "evacuated", the thought of introducing oil (in any amount) into the combustion process "going against the grain" personally, though there are cases (Judson and to a lesser extent, Shorrocks applications) where this comes with the territory so... MORE
I have recently purchased a midget and I am going to pick it up in california. I have to tow it several hundred miles to utah where i live. Is there anything that I should know about towing an MG that far? Thanks in advance.... "johngalt_4" 27887... MORE
Thanks to all the "start-up" advice, the initial run-in went without a hitch. But a strange problem cropped up. Engine is a fresh high compression 1275 with PCV only. It would run very well for the first few minutes, and then start to belch smoke the likes of which few could imagine. It would do this for a couple minutes, then run normal again. Also, I could not get it to idle below 1200 rpm despite the fact that the carbs were fresh and were properly set up. With throttles CLOSED it still idled at about 1200. After doing... MORE
Stewart It was more to do with the need to meet 'low speed impact regulations' that the 'energy absorbing' bumpers were introduced for the American market, rather than the 'precise' height of the bumpers. It had to pass certain front and rear impact regulations, and that in turn dictated the height of the bumpers and the subsequent raising of ride height. These were 'safety' introductions, introduced soley to pass the new regulations. Likewise the 1500 engine from the Spitfire which would be far easier to modify to meet the 'emission regulations' coming into force than the older A series.... MORE
The height legislation was to do with the bumpers themselves. The performance/handling is a very good reason to leave them off (it's equivalent to about a 5 bhp increase, considering the improved power to weight ratio!) so a bit of time spent grinding off the front mountings is well worth it, especially since you already have chrome bumper front wings Are your CB wings original BL ones or pattern ones? The arch radius should be the same for both CB and RB cars. As I said earlier, the mountings are slightly different, so you would probably need to lower... MORE
